Eventide
by TheSandyToadfish
Summary: What if Bella's blood had called out, not to Edward, but to Alice?
1. Chapter 1

**Stephanie Meyer owns all of the characters, I'm just borrowing them for awhile.**

**Chapter 1**

"Bella! Start movin' or you're gonna be late for your first day!"

I groaned into my pillow. It was just like Charlie to act cheery in the hopes that I would too. Not much chance that'll happen while I'm in Forks.

I groaned again before getting out of bed. There was nothing Charlie could do to make me dread this day any less. Being the new girl was bad enough. Being the new girl in a town that had a smaller population then my old school was a nightmare.

I showered and got dressed deciding to wear my favourite hoody over a green blouse and black denim jeans.

"Morning Bells," said Charlie as I came downstairs and into the kitchen.

"Mornin'" I mumbled, fumbling with the milk and cereal.

"Looking forward to school? Not too nervous I hope."

I gave a noncommittal shrug as I sat down to eat my breakfast and he left it at that.

I finished my cereal and took it over to the sink to give it a rinse. Charlie stood up, looking eager to leave.

"Well, I better head off to the station. Most mornings I'll have gone by the time you get up."

"No worries Ch- dad. I'll see you tonight."

As Charlie left I decided I had better get going too if I wanted to have time to sign in at the office before class.

"Well, here we go." I said to myself under my breath.

* * *

Driving to my new school for the first time I noticed how everything was green. And wet. Yuck. I hated rain and everything to do with being cold and wet. And unfortunately forks consisted entirely of things that were either wet, damp, or cold.

Not like Phoenix. In fact Phoenix and Forks are basically at opposite ends of the spectrum. Not just in the weather categories either.

At my old school there where thousands of students. In fact my year level alone had more students than forks high school had all up. It was quite possible to go through high school in Phoenix and still not know everyone in your year.

I doubt the same could be said for Forks unfortunately. Everyone knew everyone. Being the new girl was going to suck. I wouldn't be able to just blend into the background here like I did back home.

Home. Forks is home now. I've got to stop thinking like I'm on some sort of holiday here and accept the fact that I'm living here now.

I finally got to school without causing any major accidents. I'd made sure I was the first person here so I'd have time to go to the office and check in before class. Hopefully I would have time to familiarise myself with the campus as well so I wouldn't be forced to ask for directions or read a map all day.

I pulled off the highway and into the school lot. The buildings where all drab concrete blocks. The smallest of the buildings at the front of the lot was what I assumed, correctly as it turned out, to be the front office.

After collecting my timetable and a sheet for my teachers to sign, I returned to my truck. By that time a few other cars has arrived and the drivers were chatting sociably, some throwing a curious glance at my beast of a car. Unlike Phoenix there weren't many fancy sports cars. The nicest car their was a Volvo that looked brand new.

I turned up the heat and the music and tried to finish the book I was currently reading. It wasn't long until the tardy bell rang indicating five minutes until first period started.

I hadn't realised the time because I was so engrossed in my novel. I quickly gathered my books and headed off, in what I hoped was the right direction, for my first class.

* * *

The cafeteria was refreshingly normal. There were all the usual cliques that high school tends to harbour. The jocks, the nerds, the emos, the loners. All of them had their own areas and stuck to the religiously.

I was having lunch with a few girls and guys with whom I had just had classes with. They were fairly nice so far. A bit chatty, but then I preferred silence so it may have just been me.

"So Bella, Phoenix huh?"

One of the girls was talking to me. I came out of my daze and gave the group my full attention. Hopefully I wouldn't be the centre of their attention for long. Shit, I'd forgotten her name. Hopefully someone would say it before I embarrassed myself.

"Isn't it meant to be, like, super sunny there?" she coolly asked "How come you're not tanned or anything? Just stay at home instead of going out?"

"I don't know." I replied "Didn't get outside enough I guess."

"Leave her alone Jessica." said Angela a girl I had sat with during one of my classes.

"What? I'm just having fun." Jessica said, turning away.

"Sorry about her," She lent over to whisper to me "She's just jealous that Mike is paying you so much attention. She isn't usually this bad."

I blushed at the mention of Mike paying me attention. Not because it was from Mike exactly. Just the attention in general. I'd much rather fade into the background than stand in the limelight.

As the rest of the group continued gossiping about the up coming dance, I returned to looking around at the people. After discretely scanning the faces of the closest tables I turned towards the back of the cafeteria. Upon seeing the only occupied table out of a few empty ones I did a double take. Surely my mind was playing tricks on me.

Sitting together were the five most beautiful people I had ever laid eyes on. There where three boys, although 'men' was probably more appropriate despite their age, and two girls. All of them had pale white skin and shadows underneath their eyes as if they had gone too long without sleep. But it didn't detract from their beauty. If anything it enhanced it.

Of the boys two had dark hair and one was blonde. The brown haired one was huge, a veritable wall of muscle. The blonde was also big but in a more confined way, and he sat perfectly straight as if with a plank down his shirt. The last and youngest looking had bronzish coloured hair. He wasn't as big as the other two but he was still 'built'.

Of the two girls one was blonde and the other had jet black hair. The blonde looked like a 70's pin up model. She was the kind of girl who would put a large dent in every other woman's self esteem straight away just by walking into the room.

And the raven haired girl. Her shoulder length hair was styled in perfect disarray. Not a single spike was pointing in the same direction. That, along with her beautiful and pointy features, and her rather short stature, gave her the impression of an elf or a pixie. Some mischievous creature of nature.

"The Cullens."

I was dragged put of my reverie by Angela taping on my shoulder. As I looked away from the raven haired beauty the bronze haired boy glanced towards us. He gave me an odd look before turning back to his group with a puzzled expression on his face.

"Sorry, what?" I asked, turning to Angela.

"The Cullens," she repeated, unnecessarily motioning towards the group I had just been observing. "They're Dr. Cullen's foster kids."

"Foster kids? So they're not related?"

"You'd hope not otherwise what they're doing is not only gross, it's illegal." said Jessica, butting into the conversation.

"Well Rosalie and Jasper, the blondes, are twins but the others – Emmett, Alice, and Edward - are unrelated." said Angela as if Jessica hadn't interrupted, point out each as she named them.

So the dark haired girl was Alice. It suited her.

"Hang on, what do you mean gross and illegal?" I asked, turning back to Jessica.

"They're all together is what I mean. Like 'together' together."

"Only Rosalie and Emmett are together for sure." interrupted Angela.

"Jasper and Alice are as well!"

"Ssshhh! What if they hear you? And anyway, there isn't any proof that that they're together. They're just... close."

"Whatever, either way Edward is definitely single." Jessica said, sighing at the end of her sentence summing up her feelings for Edward.

As the girls were discussing the possibilities and likeliness of the relationships, my gaze had returned to the group at the table. It seemed to be drawn to the short, dark haired girl - to Alice.

As I watched a strange thing happened. All of a sudden she stiffened, her eyes going wide: as if someone had poked her with a burning stick. At the same time the bronze haired boy - Edward - stood up almost knocking his chair over in his haste. He grabbed her by the arm and nearly dragged her out of the cafeteria. As they were leaving Alice seemed to snap out of it for a second and look directly into my eyes before disappearing out the door.

While this was happening the others at the table seemed to be at as much of a loss as I was. The big, dark haired boy - Emmett - went to stand, but the blonde - Rosalie - pulled him back down. Jasper was looking towards the door through which Edward and Alice had just left with an intense look of concentration on his face.

All this happened in less than ten seconds and I seemed to be the only one who noticed anything odd happen. What was going on? I turned to Angela and Jessica to see if they had witnessed the odd behaviour, but they were still deep in conversation. As I turned back to the Cullen table I saw that Jasper was now staring directly at me. I felt myself blushing as I hid my face behind my hair. At least I was starting to feel a bit calmer about the strange episode that had just happened.

The bell rang for the end of lunch and everyone got up in a deafening scrape of chairs and tables being pushed around. I got up for biology thinking that it although it would still be pretty dull here, at least there was going to be something good to look at.

**

* * *

Hey folks, **

**Cheers for reading and hope you enjoyed the first chapter. Eventide is an olde English way of saying the end of the day, otherwise known as twilight. Ha, bet you didn't see that coming. But I used it because it is the same but different to Twilight, which is basically the entire premise of my story. I'll try to update once a week, but I don't know how well I'll be able to stick to that schedule, I go back to uni July 26th. This is my first story so feedback would be great.**

**-TST**


	2. Chapter 2

**Stephanie Meyer owns all of the characters, I'm just borrowing them for awhile.**

**Chapter 2**

I had biology next and I wasn't sure I knew the way yet. I started to follow the crowd out of the cafeteria when Mike caught up with me.

"Bella, you have biology now right?" asked Mike "I can show you the way if you want."

"Thanks Mike," I replied, as he led me to class.

After a couple of minutes of pushing and making our way through the crowd we finally got to the right room.

I had to talk to Mr. Banner to get my attendance form signed off. Slightly grudgingly it seemed, Mike walked over to his usual table.

After giving me his tick of approval, Mr. Banner told me to head to the only empty spot left. Which just happened to be right next to Edward Cullen.

While I was walking over to my seat, Edward looked up and met my eyes. At once I noticed that they where very dark, possibly even black. He gave a small frown as I walked over and I blushed as I remembered that he had caught me staring at him and his family.

As I sat down I noticed that Edward's body language was confusing and slightly conflicting. Although he turned towards me when I got close, he also seemed to lean away. I decided I was probably reading too much into it and settled down for the lesson. I turned to introduce myself to him but he beat me to it.

"Hello, I'm Edward Cullen. You must be Isabella Swan. Or do you prefer Bella?"

I was taken aback by his voice. It was far softer than I would have expected for some reason, and yet it still matched him very well. I gathered my wits enough to respond.

"Hi. Yes, I am. And I definitely prefer Bella." It was a point I usually had to point out to others. It was a nice change for someone to guess so easily: he had me feeling at ease pretty quickly.

"Bella it is." He replied with a smile that belonged on the silver screen.

"I'm surprised you came to class actually, you're sister didn't look very well when you left the cafeteria."

I regretted my words as soon as they left my mouth. I blushed as Edward looked up with a surprised frown on his face.

"I don't mean… I wasn't like… spying on you," I stuttered, blushing more and more as I kept talking, probably sounding like the biggest idiot alive. "I just… I noticed that you left in a hurry, helping your sister out is all." I finished lamely.

"Um, yes... Well, Alice, she… She sometimes gets headaches. Migraines really." He replied, his frown deepening as he turned toward the board at the front.

I turned back towards the front of the class as well, horrified that I had revealed my interest in his family to him like that. Edward was silent next to me, probably feeling incredibly awkward and quite annoyed.

By the time Mr. Banner had started us on our practical, Edward seemed to have lost the frown and was being perfectly polite again. I decided it couldn't hurt to ask the one other question I wanted an answer to.

"Um, Edward? Is she all right? Alice that is?" I asked, stumbling over my words like I do my feet.

"What?" Out of everything I had said this seemed to catch him off guard the most. He considered my question quite intensely for a few seconds. More, I thought, than was necessary for what could have been a simple blow-off answer. Maybe I hadn't ruined my chance to get to know this interesting person and his family after all, I thought.

"Hmm, well, she should be. It's hard to tell. But she has always been very strong."

His choice of words surprised me, it was quite strange the way he said it. Like it was a mental thing: if she tried hard enough she wouldn't get migraines anymore. It was almost like he was talking about something else. Or maybe someone else. I don't know, I'm sure he knew what he was talking about. His father's a doctor after all.

The longer the lesson went on the more I felt that Edward was surprised that I was still talking to him. Like people usually stayed away from him, which surprised me because he was so polite and he seemed very friendly. But on the other hand it wasn't that strange. He was good looking, to a point of perfection really. And, from the looks of the way he dressed, his family was very well off financially. He would be pretty intimidating to many people I guessed: I knew I was nervous at first. But his calm exterior and gentle voice put me at ease so that I was blurting out every thought that came into my head. Like mentioning how I had been snooping at him and his family, I thought with a mental sigh.

* * *

When the end of class came Mike came straight over to my table.

"We've got gym together now," he said, totally ignoring Edward. "I'll show you the way."

"Oh, yeah, okay. Thanks." I was slightly disappointed that I had to leave Edward for gym, not half because I was almost guaranteed to make a fool out of myself in my next class. In fact, there was no almost about it. I sighed. Why did gym have to be compulsory in Forks? "I guess we had better go. Goodbye Edward."

"Goodbye Bella," he replied in his soft voice. "Until next time."

I gathered my books and let Mike practically drag me from the room. I was in no hurry to get to the gym so I took my time putting my books away. Mike decided to take the time to inquire about my conversation with Edward.

"So, you're Cullen's partner now, huh?" he said the name with a slight sneer. "That guy's always given me the creeps to be honest."

"Why? He seems nice enough to me." I replied, closing my locker and following Mike to the gym.

"I dunno, it's just a feeling I guess. Something off about him. All of them really. The Cullens."

"Have you ever talked to him? To any of them? Have you even tried to get to know him or any the others?" I was getting a bit annoyed at this conversation now.

"No, I've never wanted to." Mike replied defensively, stopping as we came to the gym.

"Well, maybe you should give them a chance before you start judging them." My tone had calmed down by now, but inside I was still annoyed. I turned to enter the gym with Mike following behind me.

Gym was terrible. We were playing volleyball and I spiked the ball straight into another girls face. Even though I apologised profusely and told the coach that making me play was a safety hazard for myself and others, but he told me to keep on going and that I would get used to it eventually. Because it was my first class Coach Clapp didn't make me put on the uniform which was one positive at least, although he did find one for me to wear from then on.

Finally the last bell rang and class was dismissed. I returned to my locker to grab my bag before heading to the parking lot.

As I walked out into the slight drizzle that was omnipresent in Forks, I noticed that Edward and the rest of the Cullens, except for Alice, where standing around the new Volvo I had noticed earlier. I wasn't surprised that it belonged to them. I waved to Edward as I walked to my truck. He raised his hand in acknowledgement but a frown returned to his face. His massive brother, Emmett, punched him in the shoulder when he saw that he was waving at me, grinning like a maniac. But the other two were frowning like Edward, especially Rosalie whose face was more like a scowl than a frown. I blushed, letting my hair fall around my face and quickly walked the rest of the way to my truck.

I started up the truck, jumping at the roar of the engine when it finally caught. A few people where glancing towards it, probably because of the amount of noise it was making. Or maybe they were glancing at me because I was the new girl. I hoped it was the noise. I pulled out of the lot and headed home.

* * *

When I got back to Charlie's, I still had a couple of hours until Charlie came home. I started chopping a few vegetables and getting some mince together for a quick pasta sauce. I let that cook while I tried to get some homework out of the way.

I booted up the computer and signed on to check my email. I sighed as about five or six emails from my mum started downloading into my inbox. I read through them quickly. They progressively got shorter, sounding more and more anxious, even though they had been sent within a ten hour period. You would think I had been out of touch for months let alone days. I quickly replied, telling her about my day and the people. The usual. Trying to ease her mind that I was fitting in at the new school. That I had some friends, although it was only the first day.

Finally finishing with that I hit send and started on the English project which was writing a short essay about Shakespeare. I decided upon using one of my previous essays that had impressed some of my teachers in phoenix. I tried to rationalise that it's not really cheating if it's my own work. And anyway, I'd still have to edit it a bit for it to fit the context.

After messing around with that for awhile I heard Charlie coming in downstairs.

"Bells? You around?" he called up from downstairs.

"Yeah dad, just doing finishing off some homework." I replied, coming down stairs to meet him. He was taking off his jacket and putting away his gun as I reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Ah, hey Bells. What's cooking? It smells fantastic."

"Oh, just some pasta sauce. It should probably be ready now. I'll just chuck some pasta on and it'll be ready in about ten minutes."

"Excellent, I'll just, ah… clean up a bit and be down in a second." he called out as he headed upstairs towards the bathroom.

* * *

"Ah, cheers Bells. I could get used to this."

We'd finished dinner and I was just clearing away the plates. Charlie was as comfortable to eat in silence as I was so neither of us had really talked yet.

"Yeah, well, you eat way to much take out as it is." I replied, only half joking.

"So," said Charlie, leaning back in his chair. "How was your first day?"

"Yeah, um… pretty good you know, met some nice people." I reeled off the few names I could remember from the group I had spent lunch with. Charlie commented on each with what he new about them and their families.

"So that's it then? Just a normal day at a new school? I told you it wouldn't be that bad." He said it with a smile in his voice, genuinely happy that I seemed to be fitting in.

"Yeah. Oh, I almost forgot," I added, turning back to Charlie. "I'm lab partners with Edward Cullen in biology. He seems quite nice. Although they don't seem to fit in very well at school."

"One of Dr. Cullen's kids?"

"Yeah, do you know Dr. Cullen?" I questioned, interested at the tone of Charlie's voice.

"Mmm, he came to Forks two years ago because his wife wanted to live in a small town. He's a great man. Fantastic surgeon. We're incredibly lucky to have him. He could probably work anywhere he wanted to and earn far more than he is here. I haven't had any trouble from his kids either: they're very mature for their age. The way some people can gossip just because they're newcomers…" he finished with a huff.

It was one of the longest speeches I'd heard from Charlie, and he also seemed quite passionate about it. As if it wasn't the first time it had come up. I let it go and stacked the dishes up to dry.

"Ah well, try and be nice to the Cullen kids. They seem pretty nice and it can't hurt to have a few more friends, ay?"

"Right dad, I was planning on trying to get to know them a bit better." I said, as I headed up to bed. "Well, goodnight then."

"Goodnight Bells, thanks again for dinner. Oh, I probably won't be here in the morning either. I usually have to leave pretty early."

"Okay, goodnight Ch- dad."

I went up to bed and got in straight away. It took me awhile to go to sleep, but the last thing I remember before sleep took me was they way Alice had looked at me before Edward had practically dragged her out of the cafeteria.

**

* * *

I know, I know. No Alice! I'm disappointed too. But I decided from the start that I wasn't going to have Alice in biology with Bella. I didn't want to just swap Alice for Edward. Don't worry, Alice will come back into the story, and sooner rather than later. I hope you enjoyed it all the same. And I'm sorry if it was fairly similar at the end, it probably will be for a while.**

**Also, I'll try to update about once a week. But it could get fairly irregular soon when uni starts back up. Cheers for the great feedback so far. Much appreciated. Criticism is always welcome too.**

**-TST**


	3. Chapter 3

**Stephanie Meyer owns all of the characters, I'm just borrowing them for awhile.**

**Chapter 3**

Over the next week or so, school continued in much the same way. I would spend lunch and my morning periods with Angela, Mike, Jessica and their crowd; then I would have biology, which I spent with Edward.

During the lunch of my second day at Forks High I happened to mention that I was lab partners with Edward.

"What? Edward Cullen? Oh-my-god-you-are-so-lucky!" Jessica practically shouted without taking a breath.

"Yes, Edward Cullen. Why?" I didn't really get what all the fuss was, I mean, somebody had to be his partner. Even Angela had a slightly glazed look to her eyes.

"Oh, no reason… He's only _the_ best looking guy in Forks. No, not just Forks, probably America! Probably the _world_!" Edward could probably here her the way she was going on; he was only on the other side of the cafeteria.

"Well, he is pretty good looking I guess. But he's still just a normal person. He was quite nice actually. A bit quiet though." I said, getting slightly defensive.

"You have to tell us everything he said!" Jessica persisted.

"We were just talking, it wasn't about anything in particular," I was starting to get annoyed with this topic, which, thankfully, Angela seemed to notice.

"So, have you decided who you're going to ask to the dance Jess?" Angela asked, with an apologetic smile to me. I was rather grateful to her for changing the subject.

"No, not yet." For some reason Jessica had gone quite at the mention of the dance. I should remember that for next time, I thought to myself.

"Really? I thought you were planning on asking Mike?" asked Angela.

"Look, I'm just not sure anymore okay?" Jessica said this last part with a glance in my direction before getting up and heading to the food line.

"Sorry about that," said Angela, turning back to me, "I think she's just upset that Mike has only been interested in you since you got here. I think she thinks you're going to ask him to the dance. You're not are you?"

"What? No, of course not." I was blushing immediately at the mention of Mikes interest in me. I would have to let her know at some point that I think they would be perfect for each other. "I'll tell her she should ask him, that they would be good together."

"That might be a good idea," nodded Angela "So, who are you going to ask? Oh, oh! You should _definitely_ ask Edward!"

"No _definitely_ not. I doubt I'll go at all. Dancing isn't really my thing." I said with a glance towards the Cullen table.

Although I was usually quite shy, I found myself doing most of the talking during our class together while Edward listened, often with a confused frown upon his handsome face.

The only other thing that I really paid attention to was the continued absence of Alice Cullen. I asked about her each day in biology and just got the same response as when I first inquired after her. In fact it became a bit of a joke. Edward greeted me by saying that Alice was fine and that he thought it strange that I cared so much about someone I had never met. I got defensive, when he first said that, replying that it was only worry after the sibling of a friend. Although if I was being honest I would have said that I didn't really now why I was interested, I just was.

"Are we friends?" Edward asked when I said this, genuinely unsure.

"Well… I just thought…" I was blushing furiously in my utter embarrassment over assuming that we had become slight friends during our biology classes. Edward started laughing at my stuttering and embarrassment.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you. I'm just not used to having many friends outside of my brothers and sisters." He frowned when he said this and turned back to the front of the class. I was still to embarrassed to start the conversation again so I too turned to the front and we didn't say anything for the rest of the period.

On my fourth day at school when Alice had still yet to reappear, I decided I would ask Angela about it.

"So does this happen often?" I started "Alice Cullen not coming to school for days on end I mean."

"Not really. I mean, sometimes Dr. Cullen and his wife take them out of school for a few days. Whenever it's sunny in fact. To go camping and stuff, apparently they're really into the whole "family bonding" thing. But usually all of them are absent, and as you can see it's hardly sunny outside." She said this last line with an indication towards the window where, far from being sunny, it was raining harder than ever.

"Edward said she got migraines. That must be why she isn't here." I said, half to myself. It was quite the coincidence that Alice disappeared on the same day that I started. But I'm sure it's just that: coincidence.

The week continued and Friday came. With it came my first full weekend in falls. I quickly finished my homework and spent most of the time refamiliarising myself with Forks. I tried to borrow some new books from the local library to tide me over until I hade the time to go to Seattle or Port Angeles to do a proper shop for entertainment. I needn't have bothered. It didn't really stock any books I was currently interested in and the few it did have, I already owned. In fact it was a pretty poor selection all round.

So instead of continuing to waste my time at the library, I decided instead to just drive around town. While I did I had the strangest suspicion that I was being watched or followed. I shrugged it off to paranoia or, more likely, people turning to stare at the loudest truck in the history of Forks.

School returned after the weekend, and I was back into the same routine. I let Jessica know that she should ask Mike to the dance after which she seemed to immediately brighten up because she realised I had not intention of asking him. Alice was still absent and Edward still told she was fine, just taking a break.

On Wednesday it was sunny for the first time since I had got to Forks. I was excited until I realised that if what Angela had told me the previous week it probably meant none of the Cullens would be there. This turned out to be correct when, on walking into the cafeteria at lunch I saw that none of the Cullens were at their table. I had to spend the entire period of biology without a partner and with no one to talk to.

Thursday was also sunny. Two days of sunshine in a row in Forks. It was unheard of. Maybe there was a drought. I was just annoyed because it meant I would have another period of biology alone. It also meant that I didn't know if Alice was better or just away with the others, which for some reason really annoyed me. Or worried me. It was hard to distinguish between the two.

* * *

Friday came, and with it: the rain. I was relieved that I wouldn't have to spend another whole period of biology by myself. And hopefully Alice was better and would be back at school. Upon thinking this I decided that Edward was right, I did care a bit too much for someone I had never met, even if they were a sibling of a "friend". I put the thought out of my mind: I was allowed to care about other people, there was nothing wrong with that.

On arriving at school I noticed that the Cullens silver Volvo was in the parking lot for the first time in three days. Happy to have my hopes confirmed I got out of my truck and headed off to class.

I sat through Spanish and trig, listening to Jessica talk about the upcoming dance, how she was so excited that Mike had said yes, what she should wear, what he should wear, whether they should hire a limo. I laughed when she said this last one, Forks was small enough to walk to the hall let alone get a limo there. I was sorry straight away, because she looked offended, but at least it did get her to stop talking to me for awhile.

When we walked in to the cafeteria at lunch I looked towards the Cullen table, as had become my wont, and came to a halt in the middle of the door.

Alice was back.

And she was looking directly at me.

And smiling.

At me.

I'm pretty sure my heart stopped. Yep, definitely stopped.

When I was sure it had started beating again it was going ten times its usual pace. I looked away to clear my head and to slow my heart, but by the time I had turned back Alice had turned to her brothers and sisters again. The moment had passed.

I made my way to the food line and got an apple and a lemonade. I seemed to be even more clumsy than usual, tripping over level ground twice in the time it took to get to my usual table.

I spent almost the entire lunch with my head down, trying to catch a glimpse of Alice Cullen out of the corner of my eye. I ignored the conversation that Angela and Jessica were having about the dance, mostly because I had heard it all during either Spanish or trig.

When the bell rang the Cullens were the first ones out of the cafeteria despite being towards the back. I was the only person who seemed to notice, so I ignored it and left for class like everyone else.

When I walked into biology and sat at our usual bench, I couldn't even wait to sit down before I was talking.

"So, Alice is back?" I said.

"Hi to you too. Yes, she is back." Edward said with a small smile.

"Sorry. Hi. So she's feeling better than?"

"I think so. But why don't you just ask her yourself?"

"What? That would be so rude. I don't even know her." I was starting to blush at the idea of walking up to someone who was basically a complete stranger and inquiring after their health.

"I doubt she would mind. She would probably be touched that someone outside of her family even cared if she was okay," he laughed at my consternation.

"Well, as long as you think it's okay. You'll introduce us?"

"Of course. And it should be okay. I don't think Alice will mind at all," he turned back towards the front to listen to Mr. Banner with a smirk on his face.

I spent the rest of the class with a mix of in a state of worried excitement. Excited that I would hopefully get to talk to the mysterious Alice Cullen, maybe she wouldn't be as closed off as Edward often seemed to be. I was worried that she would annoyed that Edward had been talking to me about her or wierded out that someone she had never met cared at all about her health for no obvious reason. It helped to remember the way she had smiled, seemingly straight at me, at lunch.

* * *

The bell rang for the end of class, and as usual Mike came over to walk with me to gym. I turned to Edward before he left.

"Okay, so umm… I'll meet you in the lot after school?" I asked, my nervousness causing me to stumble over my words slightly.

"Sure. See you then," he said as he left for his next class.

I collected my books and left with mike. During gym I was even more dangerous than I usual was. We were playing badminton and Mike had graciously – and somewhat stupidly – volunteered to be my partner. When Coach Clapp forced me to join in, I somehow managed to hit Mike in the arm and myself in the head with my racket. At the same time. It was embarrassing and quite painful. At least Coach let me stand on the side lines as I had been doing before.

When the bell finally went indicating the end of the school day, I quickly got changed into my regular attire and went to my locker to collect my bag and homework. After grabbing my stuff I readied my self and stepped out into the drizzling rain in parking lot to meet Alice Cullen for the first time.

**

* * *

I'm sorry! I'm sure you're all going to hate me for ending it there. But it works and I guarantee that we will meet Alice in the next chapter. Maybe. No, we definitely will. To be honest when I started writing this chapter I really didn't expect the first half to go on so long. **

**The reason this update is slightly later than I would usually post is because I've been at the beach for the last week (which was fucking freezing just so you know). But the good news is that since I have one more week of doing nothing before uni I should get the next chapter up fairly soon.**

**Cheers for all the fantastic reviews.**

**-TST**


	4. Chapter 4

**Stephanie Meyer owns all of the characters, I'm just borrowing them for awhile.**

**Chapter 4**

I stepped out from under the cover of the school buildings into the rain that – apart from the recent two day bout of sunshine – seemed to a defining part of the landscape. I pulled up my hood to protect myself from the worst of it and walked over to where Edward was waiting with Alice for me.

I was happier to see him than I thought I would be; I think I had subconsciously feared he might not show. I need not have worried because he was there, although I didn't realise that I would be talking to Alice straight away. I thought Edward might give me a bit of a grace period to talk to him first. But I guess I couldn't have everything I wanted.

I wasn't really sure why I was even doing this. I was letting my curiosity overcome my better judgement. Or maybe I was just deciding to let go of my embarrassment for awhile to talk to someone I was strangely intrigued by. The only thing I knew for sure was that I was confused. Which really didn't help me that much. Enough with the stalling, I thought to myself in an attempt to gain a bit of confidence, lets do this.

"Hi," I said, blushing in embarrassment as I walked the last few steps. Although it really shouldn't have been so awkward: I would have introduced any of my new friends to my sibling if I had one.

"Hi," said Edward, taking the lead. "Alice, this is Bella. Bella, Alice."

"Hi, Bella," she said, with a smile that seemed more forced than earlier – although no less stunning for it.

Her voice threw me. Like Edward's it had a beautiful, almost musical, quality to it. And yet it was also different. Where Edward's voice would have been the string section of an orchestra; Alice's was the wind section. It was high, but not screeching. I cleared my throat realising I hadn't replied yet.

"H-hi," I said, stumbling over my words as usual, "Are you… You're feeling better then? Edward… Edward told me that you sometimes get migraines. That's why you weren't here for the last few days and…" I stopped, realising that I was rambling.

"Oh, yes. Migraines. They've never been this bad before. It's the first time I've missed school because of them." Alice didn't seem to be at all shy, even though she was talking to a complete stranger about her health. Although she did seem a bit tense.

"Bella, has been worrying after you for the last two weeks," Edward said with a grin at my embarrassment.

I flustered to say something that wouldn't make me look like any more of a complete idiot. But Alice just grinned, knowing exactly what Edward was doing.

"Don't worry Bella, I'm flattered and surprised that a complete stranger would care so much," her smile was much more natural now then it had been at the start of the conversation.

"Thanks. I think seeing you leave on my first day just stuck with me," I shyly smiled through my embarrassment.

"Mmm, that's probably it." Although her tone hadn't changed, she had gone tense again, and her smile a faded a touch. I wasn't sure if I had said something, or if she still wasn't feeling one hundred percent. She glanced towards their Volvo where the rest of her family were waiting. Rosalie was scowling in a way that seemed completely out of sync with the rest of her beautiful features.

"We should probably go, wouldn't want to keep Rosalie waiting," she said with a grin, although it didn't have the warmth that her previous grin had held. She turned back to me again, "Goodbye Bella, it was nice to meet you."

"It was nice to meet you too Alice," I started walking towards my truck as they walked off towards their Volvo.

"Oh, Bella!" Alice called out as I nearly made it to my truck.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

"For what?" I said with a frown. I was really confused now, I couldn't think of anything that Alice could possibly have to thank me for.

"For worrying."

And with those last words Alice let out her devastating smile again. The same one from lunch. It took me a few seconds before I managed to stutter out some small "no worries" and get into my truck.

The Volvo pulled out and I caught Alice's eye as they left, but only for a second before they had turned and were out of site.

I rested my head against my wheel. What was going on with me? I'd never been affected by someone else like this. And another girl at that. I shook it off and turned my mind back to meeting Alice. I was hoping I'd get to know her a bit more over the next few days. But for know, I had my second weekend in Forks ahead of me.

* * *

At breakfast on Saturday Charlie told me that the Billy Black had invited us over to their house for dinner that evening.

"You don't have to come if you don't want to. I know Jacob would like to see you," he must have noticed my confused look at this because he went on, "You used to play with him and his sisters when you visited. He's a few years younger than you though."

"Oh, yeah. I remember him. He lives down on the Quileute reserve, right?" Memories of playing on the beach came back to me.

"Yep, that's them. Jacob was the one who fixed your truck up."

"Really, wow. That's amazing. I'll have to thank him."

After that we went about our days. I finished off some homework and Charlie watched sport on the television. We left in the evening in Charlie's cruiser. I was annoyed to have to drive in the cruiser, but Charlie had a good point that I didn't know the way and that I could go up in the truck next time.

We pulled up in front of a wooden house that resembled a small barn, more so because of it's dull red paint job. A boy who looked to be a couple of years younger than me came rushing out of the house at the sound of our approach.

"Hey Charlie!" said the boy, waving to my dad while his eyes turned towards me.

"Hiya Jake. You remember my daughter? Bella, this is Jacob Black," said Charlie, turning towards me for the last part.

"Hi Jacob," I said, blushing slightly: he hadn't taken his eyes off me since walking out of the house.

"Hi Bella, nice to see you again," he said with a big grin spreading across his face. "Come inside, it's looks like it might rain."

I let out a laugh at Jacob's easy sarcasm and followed Charlie and him into the house. Inside was another man around Charlie's age who was in a wheelchair and resembled Jacob. I assumed, correctly as it turned out, that this was Jacob's father: Billy Black.

"You must be Bella," he said, turning towards me. "Glad you decided to come to Forks, I swear I haven't seen Charlie this happy in years."

I blushed a deep scarlet at his words, which was probably his intention. He started laughing quietly at my reaction.

"No, I'm just teasing Bella. It really is good to see you though." If what I'd heard so far was anything to go by, I could see where Jacob got his sense of humour from. "So Charlie, did you bring the beer?"

"Of course," said Charlie, holding up six cans of beer. "And you've got the food?"

"It's probably cold by now seeing how long you took."

Jacob rolled his eyes at me at the childish banter between the two grown men. I smiled back, relaxing around him after the initial awkwardness. He seemed to be a fairly normal guy.

"Come on Bella, I'll show you around and we can let the children squabble in the kitchen. Call me Jake by the way."

"Sounds good, thanks Jake"

We left the adults to bicker and Jake showed me the various rooms in his house. After the short tour he led me back to the kitchen were dinner looked to be ready.

After dinner Charlie and Billy watched the game while Jake had offered to take me for a walk down to the beach. Although it was quite cloudy it wasn't raining anymore so it was actually quite a pleasant night for it. We'd been quiet for a few minutes before Jacob broke the silence.

"So you like the truck?"

"Pardon?" I'd been distracted looking at the stars shining above the sea.

"Your truck?" repeated Jacob. "Charlie said you liked it, but I've lied to my dad before so he wouldn't feel bad so…"

"Oh no, I really do love it. It's fantastic. I forgot to thank you and Billy for that as well."

"Oh, don't worry about it," he was wearing a big smile now at my praise. "Glad you like it, couldn't say I'd want to drive around in it myself. Now that we managed to get rid of your truck dad finally let me start restoring a 1986 Volkswagen Rabbit that we've had for ages. I still need the master cylinder though and they really hard to come by unfortunately."

"So you fix cars all by yourself then? Wow," I was seriously impressed that someone as young as Jacob had managed to rebuild my truck and was preparing to restore another. His already dark skin blushed a shade darker at my praise but he looked to be grinning in pride.

"We better head back in a second, the games about to finish," said Jacob, glancing down at his watch. "So, made many new friends at school yet?"

"Do you know Angela Weber, Jessica Stanley, and Mike Newton?" I asked him.

"Yeah, not very well. But they come down to La Push every now and then. Is that all?"

"Umm, I'm lab partners with Edward Cullen, but other than him that's about it," I noticed at the mention of Edward's name Jacob had stopped walking. "What? Is there something wrong with that?"

"You might not want to mention the Cullens around my dad, he's all superstitious about them for some reason. Something to do with our family history I think. He doesn't trust them. Although I can't see why to be honest, they seem normal enough from what I've heard."

"Really? Wow, that's strange. So what happened in your family's past that could have made him think that way?"

"I don't know really, something to do with our family clan running into the Cullens at some point in the past and not getting on very well. I'm not totally sure on the specifics though," he answered me with a shrug as we started walking again.

"Strange," I mumbled, which earned a grunt in reply from Jake. We continued walking back to his house and by the time we got there the game was over and Charlie and Billy were waiting for us to get back. We left shortly afterwards in Charlies cruiser again.

"Did you know that Billy doesn't like the Cullens dad?" I asked after a couple minutes of silence.

Charlie's eyebrows crunched together in a frown and he didn't look like he was going to answer or a while. After a few seconds he relaxed and answered.

"Yeah I did. We had an argument about it a couple of weeks ago. Tonight was actually the first time we've talked since. He still doesn't trust them or like them but he isn't refusing to let any of the Quileute receive treatment from Dr. Cullen any more."

"Wow, I didn't realise it was so serious."

"Don't worry about it Bells. No harm done. You might want to think twice before talking about them in front of Billy though."

"Mmm, Jake warned me not to already."

"Good advice," Charlie said with a humourless chuckle.

We returned to our silence for the rest of the drive home.

**

* * *

Yay! Alice! Although she wasn't in this chapter for as long as I would have liked, she will be much more prominent in the next chapter. I promise.**

**As for why this update wasn't actually that quick I've got a couple of excuses:**

**1. I rewrote the second half of the chapter. because I wasn't happy with it. which cost me a lot of time.**

**2. It's my last week of holidays before uni starts and we needed to party a bit more. Which also means i'll probably be taking longer between updates from now on.**

**Cheers for the fantastic reviews so far and don't be afraid to rip into my story, criticism is just as welcome as praise.**

**-TST**


	5. Chapter 5

**Stephanie Meyer owns all of the characters, I'm just borrowing them for awhile.**

**Chapter 5**

Sunday seemed to go past quite quickly. I had homework to finish before Monday but luckily I had already nearly completed that during week. I also sent an email to Renee to let her know how I was going. I told her about the people I hadn't mentioned in my previous email – namely Jacob and Alice – although not going into too much detail, especially concerning Alice as her health wasn't really any of my business and certainly none of my mothers.

By the time Monday morning came I was actually excited to be heading to school to try and get to know Alice Cullen better. I dressed, showered and got downstairs just in time to see Charlie leaving for work.

"Oh, mornin' Bells. You're up early," Charlie greeted me. "What's the special occasion?"

"What?" I still felt half asleep and was lost in my thoughts. "Oh, nothing really. Just couldn't sleep anymore." This last bit came out in a yawn.

"Really, doesn't look like it," Charlie said, laughing at the conflict in my words and actions, which caused me to blush – of course.

"I didn't say I wasn't tired," I huffily. "I just said I couldn't sleep anymore."

He just laughed more at this statement and shook his head as he started to head out again.

"Ok, well, don't wear yourself out too much today ok Bells? I'll see ya tonight."

"Yeah dad, see you then." He left and I went over to fix up a bit of breakfast before leaving for school.

When I pulled into the lot I noticed that the Cullens were just arriving as well. I gave a small wave to them before I parked. I had to swerve to avoid hitting one of the teachers' cars because of my distraction. I glanced back to the Cullens to make sure none of them had seen. Unfortunately it looked like the big one, Emmett, had noticed because he was roaring in laughter and both Edward and Alice wore matching smirks. I groaned and blushed in embarrassment and hastened to get out of the car and up to the school as quickly as possible to avoid further humiliation.

Thankfully I managed to make it all the way to the front doors without any further incidents, which was quite astounding in and of itself. Before I could get inside though I heard footsteps behind me and turned in time to see Alice and Edward approaching. My blush from before returned, which seemed to cause Edward to smirk and Alice to smile the same, tense smile from Friday.

"Hi, Bella. Are you okay?" Edwards concern just causing my blush to deepen.

"Yeah. No it's nothing. Happens all the time," I answered truthfully enough.

"Sorry about Emmett, we told him it wasn't funny, but he didn't quite agree." Said Alice, a smile tugging at the corners of her full lips. At this Edward started to chuckle, which in turn caused the Alice to let out the grin she had been holding back.

"Ha-ha," I replied sarcastically. "Yeah, real funny. Not like I could have been hurt or anything." By this time I was starting to grin along with them.

"You're not hurt are you?" Alice asked, concern sketched across her face.

"What? No, of course not," I was surprised that she was so worried. Then I thought back to the previous Friday with a smile. "Thanks though."

"For what?" Alice asked, genuinely confused.

"For worrying." By now I was grinning while Alice still looked confused.

Edward remembered first and started quietly chuckling again. This just caused Alice's confusion to grow before she too remembered her parting words last time we spoke.

"Oh, har-har very funny," she grumbled just as the tardy bell rang. We headed inside, and with a small wave and goodbye to each of them I walked off towards my first class.

* * *

The rest of the week continued in a similar fashion. I didn't have any classes with Alice it turned out so I only really ever saw her in the canteen or after school. We didn't really talk that much because we were mostly in different groups and she was with her family most of the time.

Despite that we managed a few small conversations in the food line or before leaving after school. Nothing huge or anything, just small talk really. It was nice to get to know another girl at school, even if it was a bit daunting being in her presence some of the time. But I got over her stunning beauty fairly quickly: it was just suited to her perfectly, and she didn't seem inclined to flaunt it or anything like that.

Apart from her, seemingly inhuman, perfection and extremely pale demeanour, Alice seemed to be fairly normal. She was quite excitable I had come to notice, at least when around her family. Although never overtly cold towards me, she did seem to tense up whenever we were in close proximity. I made up my mind to talk to Edward about it in our next class together.

* * *

Thursday morning came and with it, much to my quiet loathing, came snow and ice. It had been getting colder over the last two weeks so I wasn't that surprised about it. Didn't mean I had to enjoy it, or the fact that everyone else would probably be ecstatic about the snowfall.

I stormed into the bathroom while still half asleep and got ready for the morning. As I made my way down to breakfast, my shocking mood didn't go unnoticed by Charlie.

"Somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning," Charlie said with a chuckle, stopping when he saw the glare I was giving him. He raised his hands in defence. "Sorry, just kidding. What's wrong though?"

"Oh, nothing. I don't really like the snow is all. It's just solid, colder rain." I said with a sigh. I think Charlie might have been holding back a laugh at this but I couldn't be sure.

"Well, I've got to go. Be careful on the road, there's black ice on the roads. I've put chains on your tires but it can never hurt to be careful. I'll see you tonight bells," he said, as he left.

"See you later Dad." It was impossible to put in to words how I was touched at his concern and the effort he had put in to ensure my safety. Although we didn't usually talk about many important things, it was nice to know that the feelings were there even if they weren't talked about. With a slight smile I continued preparing for school, my bad mood gone.

Unfortunately, my newfound good mood didn't last long when I got outside. The ice that had built up along the driveway caused me to slip almost straight away, only saving myself by grabbing the car door handle at the last second. Grumbling to myself I managed to get back up on my feet and make it into the truck without any further problems.

Following Charlie's advice I drove carefully to school. The thin layer of ice covering every surface would have been incredibly dangerous if it hadn't been for the snow chains. The fact that my truck struggled to even make the speed limit was an added bonus. It all added up to my safe arrival at the school parking lot shortly before class was due to start.

As I got out of the car, I again noticed the tire chains which Charlie had put on that morning. I was still feeling moved at the small sign of his affection. When I was with Renee I was always the one taking care of her. It felt strange, in a good way, to have someone looking out for me for once.

I probably would have admired the chains for a bit longer if I hadn't heard hurried footsteps coming up behind me. I looked up to see Alice quickly walking over with a smile on her face that didn't reach her eyes. I was slightly confused at the conflicting emotions on her face and probably showed it.

"Hi Alice, nice enough morning isn't it?" The words sounded hollow even to me and I thought Alice probably would have laughed at this; instead she just kept her face in the same, determined expression on her face. When she reached me she took a hold of my arm and lead me towards the buildings.

"Hi, Bella. Let's head inside." Continuing to gently pull me along after her. When I slowed at her odd behaviour – we were hardly more than acquaintances, this was far more intimate than Alice had ever been with me. My slowing down just seemed to frustrate her.

"Come on Bella, it's freezing. Let's go." She was starting to sound slightly hysterical and her smile had disappeared completely to be replaced with a worried frown. As she pulled a bit harder I sped up to attempt to match her rapidly increasing pace. In my haste I, of course, slipped on the icy ground and fell onto my butt.

As I landed everything seemed to slow down and I noticed a few things at once. Tyler van skidded into the lot at a speed that was surely at least pushing the limits. As he came around the corner he hit an icy puddle that caused him to skid. Without any chains on he couldn't correct his mistake and started to slide across the icy lot. He looked to be on course for my truck and would probably still hit Alice and I even though we had moved.

At the same time as this was happening, Alice was roughly pulling me to my feet and half dragging me out of the way. The strength of someone with such a small frame was astounding, as was the speed with which she reacted. I had been on the ground for less than a second before she was pulling me back up.

After only a couple of seconds we were well out of the way of Tyler's out of control van. As I had suspected he was going to hit my truck side on. As he hit, Alice pulled me down to the ground. I was wondering why when shrapnel like metal and glass seemed to explode out of the windows of both cars from the impact. If we had been still standing we probably would have caught quite a bit of the debris right on.

Tyler's van appeared to bounce off my solid truck and lean over onto two wheels. It seemed to hang there for a second before slamming back onto all four wheels, destroying any windows that had survived the initial impact.

With the sudden jolt, time sped back up to normal speed noises where returning. Quite a lot of people were screaming and yelling at once. Alice was frantically trying to get my attention.

"Bella? Bella! Are you okay? You're not hurt? Oh god, that was far too close." This last part she muttered under her breath to her self. I frowned at the statement but decided to not think any more about it.

"Alice, I'm fine, I'm fine. All thanks to you that is," I replied. She either missed the slightly accusatory tone I said this last bit in or chose to ignore it.

"Good. I'm going to see if I can help out with Tyler." She hurried off towards the crash, leaving me surrounded by Mike, Jessica, and Angela trying to assure them that I was fine.

I couldn't quite comprehend what had just happened. If Alice hadn't pulled me towards class I would definitely have been hit by the van, probably killed. And then she had pulled me up and out of the way with a strength, out of proportion with her tiny frame. I hadn't noticed while it was happening but looking back she didn't even react to the van coming into the lot, she just kept pulling me along, although much more hurriedly than before it came in. It felt like she had known what was going to happen before it even did.

Well, one thing was for certain, Alice was definitely a mystery and one that I was hoping to solve.

**

* * *

I know, I know. It's very late. I started uni and I've been reading other people's stuff more often lately. I could keep making excuses but basically, I was just lazy. Hopefully the next update won't be as long a wait, but I can't make any promises.**

**Thanks to all my subscribers and reviewers, it's fantastic to know that people are enjoying your work.**

**-TST**


	6. Chapter 6

**Stephanie Meyer owns all of the characters, I'm just borrowing them for awhile.**

**Chapter 6**

* * *

The cafeteria was bustling. Noises that wouldn't have been heard by most over the tumult were rendered crystal clear to my ears and those of my family. The sound of a girls heartbeat a few tables away. The telltale sniff of someone coming down with a cold halfway across the room. The buzzing of wasp nest somewhere in the ceiling. All happening over the top of each other but yet still distinct in and of themselves.

Scents were also rushing around the, separate and yet combined. Many were the regular cafeteria smells that anyone would have picked up, although they were quite nauseating to someone in our position. Especially at the moment. We had been planning on this experiment for awhile, mainly for Jasper. It was a test. Trying to see how long we could go without hunting.

And this was making the second layer of smells infinitely harder to ignore. The deep, rich, copper of blood. The thought that even when we did hunt – probably quite soon, in all honesty the experiment wasn't going so well – we would be only able to slightly sate the thirst was almost unbearable. Wild animals, while satisfying to the increasing dryness in each of our throats, would never fully quench the thirst quite as effectively as the surrounding humans.

My thoughts had taken a darker turn, and in my daze I could see that my youngest brother was about to try and catch me off guard with a grape, catapulted from one of the plastic cafeteria spoons. Sighing, I roused myself from my reverie and turned back to my family.

"Really Emmett? Catapulting grapes? You're going to have to try harder than that," I said, before his hand had even moved towards his spoon. Emmett immediately put on a sad puppy dog expression, but I could see from his eyes that he was trying not to laugh along with the rest of us. I glanced towards Edward to see whether he had understood. His nod was almost imperceptible, even to one of us.

There was a new girl at the school today. Bella Swan, Chief Swan's daughter. Her arrival was the current hot topic among both the children and adults of Forks. She was going to look over towards us in a moment and it would be better if we we're laughing and acting relatively normal. It was easier to hide in plain site than in the shadows, and seeing us laughing and behaving had always put the other humans at ease. Or as at ease as their instincts would let them be around us.

Ah, she was looking towards us now. One of the girls she was sitting with, Angela Weber from the sound of the voice spoke to her. I could feel rather then see or hear Edward look up at her words. Even if I hadn't heard them, it wouldn't have been to hard to guess what they were talking about.

After pointing each of us out I looked up at Edward. He was frowning and looked to be deep in concentration.

"_Edward_,_"_ I called out to him in my head. He looked up and met my eyes, still frowning. _"What's up? Something wrong?"_ He paused for a long moment before shaking his head, no. _"Are you sure?"_ He stopped for even longer this time before again shaking his head, no. At this I too frowned and was about to ask him directly what was going on when I heard and felt someone open the door to the cafeteria.

A cool breeze blew into the room as the door was opened. At the same time as the smell – No, the scent. No, _her scent_ – hit me, so too did the visions.

I was going to have her. Taste her. There was no doubt in my mind. The visions just fed that certainty which in turn solidified the visions. An endless feedback cycle intensifying with each revolution. Innocents would have to die. It was immaterial. The scent overpowered any pity or guilt the previous me would have had. No, instead it was just replaced with a desire – a need, _a thirst_ – for this girl and her unfathomably aromatic scent. I would have it. I would be able to take out most of the bystanders before any real chaos broke out. It would be quite impossible to believe that the shortest, smallest of the year was laying waste to every student in the room. Before the shock had dispersed I would have finished off at least three quarters of the rooms occupants. The only thing I was uncertain of was wether I would start with the girl or finish with her. Even as these uncertainties arose in my mind they were washed away as the visions confirmed for me that I would be leaving her till last. She wouldn't scream or run. She would be in too much shock. Her first day of school would be quite enough to handle even without the added mindfuck of an entire cafeteria full of dead classmates.

All of a sudden my visions cut out. It was time to act on them. But the desire was disappearing even as I readied myself for the swiftly approaching carnage. Her scent, although still clear in my mind, was not around me anymore. Edward had a hold of me and was using all his strength to pull me into the woodlands surrounding the school. The scent had relented it's hold on my mind, and instead of fighting him I let him half drag, half carry me away.

I was ashamed. I had been moments from committing a horrifying and in excusable act of evil. All for the blood of one girl. And it hadn't even mattered. She, and everyone else who had been in that cafeteria had all been entirely innocent and I would have killed them all just to fulfil my own desires.

Edward pulled me along until we were at least a mile from where we had entered the forest. He picked me up and unceremoniously dropped me onto a stump. He stood looking at me for a long moment in which I didn't – couldn't – meet his gaze. Finally he broke the silence.

"Alice?"

"I… I had been so worried about… about jasper over the last two weeks that it had… it never once occurred to me that… that it was I we should have been worried about." Images of the future that could have been were replaying over and over in my mind. I couldn't, we couldn't, cry but if there had ever been a time when I would have, now was that time.

Edward pulled me into a crushing embrace that would have been lethal to humans. Instead of laughing and pushing him away as I usually would have done I just clung to him. He was the only support I had at the moment and I wasn't letting go anytime soon.

"It's ironic really. The visions of their death are probably what saved them from what I was seeing," I hadn't even realised I was speaking. "I can't go back Edward. I'm not strong enough. Even now, the memory of the scent is so strong. It can almost overpower the guilt of that poor girls death."

Even as I spoke another vision burst unwanted, into my mind. I would wait for her after school, I would call her and lead her off the school property into these same woodlands. It would be horrifying, but far better for it to just be her rather than an entire cafeteria of students. She would come willingly as well. I would make sure her sacrifice was painless.

As quickly as the vision came it faded again. I slumped back over on the stump. Edward, being who he was already knew what had just passed through my head and had tightened his grip on me taking the decision out of my hands.

"Alice, I'm going to take you to Carlisle. He should be able understand what happened, why her blood was so powerful to you." As he talked I could see it happening. Thankful that my visions had, for now, stopped predicting the murders of innocent humans at my hands I let Edward pull me from the stump and guide me towards home.

* * *

I stayed at home for the next week, hunting almost constantly. By Wednesday my eyes had taken on a bright gold colour, much further than I usually went. I tried to feel guilty about the number of animals that I had killed, but I knew that if I didn't it would be even harder to take when I did return to school.

For I knew that I would be returning eventually. And I knew that I would have to talk to Bella. It had come to me in a vision over the weekend. After Wednesday and Thursday which were going to be sunny, I would see her Friday in the cafeteria. Hopefully she wouldn't be sitting anywhere where her scent could reach me.

The most surprising thing, and something that hadn't come to me in a vision, was that Edward was to be her partner in Biology. When he came home on Monday he sought me out first before talking to the rest of the family.

"Alice, there's something we need to talk about." He said in lieu of a greeting.

Out loud I answered with a simple "Yes?" But in my mind my questions were flying _"What happened? Did they notice? Have they worked it out? Why haven't I had any visions of a scared and angry mob storming our house?"_

Edward started laughing at my last thought. "No, no, it's not like that. They don't know anything. At least, most of them don't. I can't really tell with Bella, she's… Hard to read." At this last part a thoughtful frown spread across his face.

"_Hard to read? What do you me_- You can't read her mind!" In my shock I said this last art out loud.

"What!" A voice that could only belong to Rosalie called out from the other side of the house. Within seconds we were surrounded by the rest of our family. "How can you not read her mind?"

All of us were shocked at this news: Edward's ability had never failed before and it was disconcerting to think that we wouldn't be able to know if Bella had worked us out, and if she did, what her intentions were.

"Yes, it was quite strange, and not a little unnerving, at first. But she doesn't seem to notice anything at all. Or if she did, she's an incredibly good actress. But she seemed overwhelmingly genuine." At this the tension eased and the others returned to what they had been doing before, leaving me to talk with Edward.

I was getting slightly angry at this point, quite unfairly and exceedingly selfishly, but I was past controlling my emotions after earlier. Edward could of course tell what I was thinking even though I was trying not to broadcast my feelings to him.

"Alice, you aren't weak. Her blood, although quite powerful in its own right, was different to me. From what I could tell of the small touch you had of it earlier I don't think I would have even paused before throwing myself at her. From what I saw, her blood seems to be extra… potent… to you alone. Not because of any weakness you have, just because. Remember how Emmett described that one human he had come across? It's probably the same thing, except that you managed to resist the urge to kill an innocent." It was rather a long speech for Edward, he usually stayed fairly quiet in times of discord.

"Thanks Edward, I'll try to remember that." I left the room and walked out to find Jasper. Before I even had a chance to look I felt a calming wave wash over me coming from the direction of the living room. "Thanks Jaz!" With this I slowly meandered my way to my room, feeling better than I had all day.

* * *

By the weekend my patience was wearing thin. I still wasn't ready to go to school and I had been cooped up all week with nothing to do except hunt. It didn't last until Saturday afternoon when I gave up and just left the house to go for a walk. I ran the short distance from our house to the town in a couple of minutes and just wandered.

It wasn't long until I heard the loud rumble of a truck a couple of blocks over that I realised I had been walking in this direction with the intention of finding her. I wasn't going to hurt her, she was in her truck so there was no trace of her scent around which was lucky – for the both of us. No, I would just follow her for awhile, keeping well into the trees on the side of the road. She just drove around fairly aimlessly for quite a long time, once or twice looking around as if searching for someone.

By the time she was heading back towards Chief Swan's house I was on my way back home, ready to go on another hunt.

* * *

Wednesday came and with it the first sun Forks had had in a long time. I loved the sun. It was one of the worst drawbacks of being a vampire, not being able to go unnoticed in the sunshine. I knew Edward hated the way the sun made us stand out, but I had always enjoyed it.

I spent the Wednesday and Thursday in the cliffy region a few miles from our house. The hunting was good, but it was also a nice break to just sit undisturbed by visions or thoughts of the mass homicide of an entire school building just for the blood of one girl. Pushing those thoughts away I returned to the task at hand which took the form of a Lynx that had yet to notice me.

* * *

Friday saw the return of the cloud cover over Forks. Although happy that I would finally be able to return I was nervous too. My visions hadn't changed and if they continued this way it looked like I would be meeting Bella Swan that afternoon. My constant pacing through most of the night had gotten on everyone's nerves so I had retreated to the rocky outcrop in the field next to our house.

Eventually it was time to go and I jumped in Edward's Volvo along with the others.

Morning classes where a breeze and I managed to make it though without any trouble. By the time we were all in the cafeteria I was nervously watching the entrance, waiting for Bella to enter.

It wasn't long before she did, walking beside Jessica Stanley. She looked up as she walked in, her brown eyes instantly drifting towards our table before locking with my own. Before I realised what I was doing I was smiling at her with all the warmth I could gather. It would probably be the only apology I would ever give her for almost ending her life.

When she noticed my smile she froze mid step, a blush spreading up her neck. She slowly broke eye contact and looked away. I quickly turned back to my brothers and Rosalie before Bella had regained enough composure to look towards our table again as I knew she was about to do.

We spent the rest of the lunch acting especially normal because Bella was glancing towards us every so often when she thought no one was watching her. I knew that when the bell rung we would have to be out of the cafeteria first to avoid any chance of her scent blowing towards us. Or me really.

I pulled Edward aside before he went to class to remind him of our earlier conversation.

"_So you'll remember to offer to introduce us? You could tease her about being worried about me, I think that will probably work."_ I was quite nervous about our meeting, my visions only showed that it would happen, not the content.

"Yes Alice, it's hard to forget when you've been pestering me about it all day," Edward said with a sigh. "I'll meet you in the parking lot after school."

"_Right, I'll see you then."_ With this we split off for our separate classes.

I spent the entirety of my next two periods worrying about the introduction. It wasn't something I usually did: worry, it wasn't really in my nature. But the fact that if the wind changed direction suddenly I could end up murdering a bunch of innocent bystanders was rather sobering.

Finally the bell rang signalling the end of the last class for the day and I was off. I was only waiting for a few minutes before Edward came out as well. I didn't have to tell Edward that I had been worrying all day, my thoughts did that easily enough. He just frowned but said nothing.

It wasn't long before I saw Bella walking out of the school building. She pulled her hood up to escape the rain as much as she could before looking up to see us and started walking over. A slight flush built up in her cheeks just before she reached us. I was thankful that we were standing up wind of her, the sight of her blood rushing to her cheeks was quite enough without her potent scent as well. It was obvious why all the boys in the year where after her. The fact that she didn't notice her own appeal just made it stronger.

She closed the short distance between us before speaking.

"Hi," this was directed towards Edward who was going to introduce us.

"Hi," Edward paused and turned slightly towards me before introducing us. I could tell from the way he positioned himself that it was a precaution should her scent hit me. I would have been offended had it not been for the previous week instead I was grateful. "Alice, this is Bella. Bella, Alice."

"Hi Bella," I said with a smile, in an attempt to ease her nerves although I wasn't sure I pulled it off. She froze as soon as I spoke and it was a few seconds before she seemed to snap out of it.

"H-hi," she stuttered, obviously still nervous, I guess my smile hadn't helped. _"Does she always stutter this bad?"_ I asked Edward. He gave an shake of his head that was almost imperceptible, even to me, but there was an unusual glint to his eyes as he did it.

"Are you… You're feeling better then? Edward… Edward told me that you sometimes get migraines. That's why you weren't here for the last few days and…" she stopped, her words halting to a finish when she realised she had been going on.

"Oh, yes. Migraines," this was the story Edward, Carlisle, and I had decided upon last week. It came out rather stiffly, I never liked to lie, but hopefully she wouldn't notice. "They've never been this bad before. It's the first time I've missed school because of them."

"Bella, has been worrying after you for the last two weeks," Edward tried to lighten the mood by teasing Bella. I was surprised that he felt he knew her enough to tease her like that. He noticed my thoughts and stopped short, which had me smiling widely, unforced this time. _"What's good enough for her is good enough for you."_ I thought at him.

Bella though was quite ruffled by his joking and her flush seemed to be returning in full force. I decided to put her out of her misery.

"Don't worry Bella, I'm flattered and surprised that a complete stranger would care so much," with a real smile at this for it was the truth. The first time Edward had told me that she asked after me almost every day I hadn't believed him at first.

"Thanks. I think seeing you leave on my first day just stuck with me," she said with a shy smile.

"Mmm, that's probably it," I tried to keep up a smile but her words brought up the horrible thoughts and visions I had had that day. No wonder it stuck out in her mind: even if she didn't know exactly what had happened it would be hard to miss the general tone. It was with a bit of dread in my hart that I only half heartedly answered her, not really paying attention anymore. _"Edward, we should go."_

Looking for an excuse I turned towards our family who was waiting by our car. Rosalie was scowling at us giving an easy out of this increasingly uncomfortable situation. Turning back I caught Edwards eye.

"We should probably go, wouldn't want to keep Rosalie waiting," grinning at this last bit because I knew Rosalie would hear it, although with the images of last Monday still in my mind, it wasn't really in me. I turned back towards Bella to make our farewells.

"Goodbye Bella, it was nice to meet you."

"It was nice to meet you too Alice," with this and a small nod to Edward she walked off towards her truck.

Before she got in I new that I had to say one final thing. I called out to her as she was about to reach the drivers side door. "Oh, Bella!"

She turned at my voice with a quizzical look on her face.

"Yeah?" She called out.

"Thanks." At this her expression changed from quizzical to one of outright confusion, a frown spreading across her face.

"For what?"

"For worrying." I knew I was going to say this previously, what I hadn't accounted for was that I wouldn't be lying at all. I really was thankful, it was different having someone care about you that wasn't family. Especially when they hadn't ever spoken to you before. So it was with a strong smile that I hadn't had to fake in the slightest that I turned back to Edward's Volvo. If I had been human I wouldn't have heard her quiet words of welcome as she got into her truck.

As we pulled out of the lot I looked towards Bella one last time, meeting eyes for a short second before we left the lot.

* * *

Over the next few days I attempted to get to know Bella a bit better. I found out first hand how clumsy she tended to be when she almost hit a car on Monday morning. Edward and I went to greet her and it was taking all I had not burst out laughing at the disgruntled look on her face.

Most of my time was spent trying to force myself to get used to her scent. Although I tried to avoid getting a full on blast of it, even just being in proximity to her tended to be more than enough. Especially because of her tendency to blush at the slightest reasons. I usually found time in the food line in the cafeteria and in the lot after school to exchange a few words and try get acclimated to her scent. It seemed to be working to an extent but I wasn't going to push it.

* * *

It wasn't until Thursday morning that anything unusual happened. I'd been half expecting a vision over the next days of blood and gore but it had yet to come. What did come though was almost as bad. We had only just got to school when it hit me. A vision of a large van hitting an icy patch and skidding before crushing into another truck. Bella's truck. It was the first snow we had had in awhile and usually we would try to enjoy it as much as the other students, but any chance of that went out the door as I saw The Van crashing into her truck in my mind. And worse, far worse is that she would be standing in between the trucks. She would have little chance of survival if that happened.

Without pausing to let the rest of my family know what was to happen, without even waiting to see if Edward noticed my vision I was halfway across the lot and towards Bella who was just getting out of her truck.

She looked up as I cleared the last few yards between us.

"Hi Alice, nice enough morning isn't it?" Her monotone went unnoticed by me as I closed the short gap between us and took a hold of her arm. At any other time such proximity to her would have been overwhelming but I didn't even notice it.

"Hi, Bella. Let's head inside," I continued to pull her gently towards the school building trying not to rush as much as I wanted to. She seemed to slow down at this which was the exact opposite of what we needed. I couldn't keep my voice from rising and I wasn't holding up any pretence of a smile as I urged her to hurry. "Come on Bella, it's freezing. Let's go."

With this I pulled slightly faster, we weren't clear of the danger zone and I wasn't going to stop until we were inside. But as Bella increased her pace to match my own she stumbled. I let out a small shriek of frustration just as the van came around the corner. Consequences be damned I pulled her up as quickly as I could and half carried, half dragged her out of the immediate danger. Just as the van was about to collide with her truck I saw that, if we didn't go to the ground right now we would be hit with a mass of debris from the cars. Even with my reflexes and prior warning it was only just in time as I dragged her down to the ground.

I was trying to get Bella's attention over the sound of screaming coming from the rest of the students. When the van finally settled back onto four wheels the loud crash brought her back to her senses and she looked up at me with a shocked expression on her face.

"Bella? Bella! Are you okay? You're not hurt?" this came out in a quick rush. It seemed from what I could tell that she was fine. "Oh god, that was far too close." This last part came out in a whisper not meant to be heard by Bella, but her frown at the words indicated that I hadn't succeeded.

"Alice, I'm fine, I'm fine. All thanks to you that is," I didn't fail to miss her tone of these last words but decided now was not the time. I had to get away from her quickly before she started asking questions I couldn't answer.

Bella's friends had run over while we were talking and were desperate to ensure that she was okay. Now was as good a time as any to make my departure and what better excuse than to check on the other victim of the car crash, even if it had all been his fault.

"Good. I'm going to see if I can help out with Tyler," I aid before getting up and making my way towards the crash, leaving Bella to be tended to by her real friends.

**

* * *

Well, not only is this update reasonably punctual, it's also more than twice as long as previous updates! But don't get used to it, it wasn't really that hard to write because there was little new material that I had to come up with.**

**I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter. Yes, Alice is slightly OOC in that she isn't the usual lively person we are used to. But come on, she saw her self murdering many, many innocent people and unlike Edward she blames herself rather than Bella for causing this. Basically because Alice isn't an idiot.**

**But other than that I'm reasonably happy with this chapter. Writing from a different point of view was rather fun. Next chapter will probably be back to Bella's POV of the events after the crash.**

**I'll wrap this up because huge A/N's are really annoying (at least I think so). So cheers for the reviews and I hope you've enjoyed this so far.**

**-TST **


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